Robert Ahomka-Lindsay
THE NATIONAL Board for Small Scale Industries (NBSSI) has partnered Mastercard Foundation to initiate a GH¢90 million resilience and recovery programme that targets micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) in Ghana.
The programme, dubbed “Nkosuo”, which literally translates as “improvement”, seeks to provide financial assistance in the form of soft loans and grants to eligible Ghanaian-owned enterprises in both the formal and informal sectors of the economy.
This will be done via banks, financial technology companies, mobile lenders, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and business development services with the condition of a one-year moratorium and a two-year repayment period.
Deputy Minister of Trade and Industry, Robert Ahomka-Lindsay, on Wednesday in Accra, launched the programme. It targets enterprises in sectors such as Agriculture and Agrobusiness, Water and Sanitation, Healthcare and Pharmaceuticals, Trade and Commerce, Garment and Personal Protective Equipment, the Creative Arts Industry, Manufacturing, Food and Beverage and Education.
He said that MSMEs contributed to about 70 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) and so “MSMEs are the economy of Ghana and there are no long and short ways about it.”
The Covid-19 pandemic has caused an economic downturn leading to the closure of businesses, increased production costs, wage cuts and workers lay-offs among other factors.
The deputy minister was hopeful that despite the meltdown of economic activities the country would still record a positive growth this year due to public-private partnership such as the Nkosuo programme.
Executive Director of NBSSI, Kosi Yankey-Ayeh, said the challenge of coming up with solutions towards mitigating the devastating effect of the pandemic on the economy led the board to seek the support of Mastercard Foundation.
She therefore expressed her gratitude to the foundation for its intervention to bring hope to businesses in the country.
She urged businesses to take interest in the programme and make judicious use of resources when granted the support.
“The programme with Mastercard Foundation marks the beginning of a new era for MSMEs in Ghana; a time when we think of new ways to accelerate and move our businesses forward.” she said.
The Lead for Youth Engagement at Mastercard Foundation, Kafui Mills Odoi, in a remark, said “enabling access to soft credits and business advisory services to MSMEs, especially those owned and managed by women and young people, is critical to building resilience and providing a pathway to economic recovery post Covid-19. The Nkosuo program enables us to directly impact the nerve centre of Ghana’s economy, i.e. MSMEs.”
Portal for application will be opened from September 17, 2020.
By Issah Mohammed